Devils defeat Islanders 4-3 in preseason action at "The Rock," Salvador out indefinitely with concussion

The Devils played arguably their best preseason game so far this year defeating the Islanders 4-3 at Prudential Center on Friday night. Jesse Joensuu gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 1:38 into the game, but Jason Arnott tied it up at 5:05 of the first period. Zach Parise scored 14:14 into the first period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead at the end of one.

Brian Rolston's slapper on the Power Play 7:44 into the 2nd extended the Devils lead to 3-1 followed by Patrik Elias at 12:14 into the period made it 4-1. However, a pair of goals from Matt Moulson of the Islanders after that cut the deficit to 4-3. Travis Zajac had a strong game with 2 assists on goals by Parise and Rolston, Arnott had an assist on Elias's goal, and Urbom, Greene and Parise had an assist each. Parise feels his line needs to be better defensively after the game, so expect them to work on that before the opener next Friday night against Dallas.

The Devils will conclude the preseason tomorrow night against the same Islanders at Nassau Colosseum at 7 PM to finish off their back to back. Johan Hedberg will start and play the entire game with Mike McKenna as backup. Brodeur will rest tomorrow and not make the trip and Anton Volchenkov could see action after missing tonight's game with a sore foot for precautionary reasons.

Notes: Tests have revealed that Bryce Salvador has suffered a concussion after a hit from Flyers forward James vanRiemsdyk on Tuesday night and will be out indefinitely, so it is unlikely he will be available for next Friday's opener. The concussion however could also be stemmed from the fight against Rangers Kris Newbury on Saturday, which caused inner ear problems. There was no word from Devils management whether Salvador would be placed on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR), which could give Devils cap relief as they are in the process of trying to clear salary due to the Kovalchuk contract. Salvador's name has come up in trade rumors and with him possibly and most likely going on IR, he cannot be traded without his consent. His salary would still count against the cap, but the Devils could exceed the cap by his salary number. However, since the Devils roster is not finalized and even if he goes on IR, they will still be over the cap, so a trade of one player or two will likely be needed. The Devils have until Wednesday midnight to get under the cap to be or face the possibility of having to forfeit their opening game against Dallas or other heavy sanctions. The NHL season kicks off Thursday in Helsinki, Finland with the Minnesota Wild facing the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the annual NHL Premiere event.

Here is the NHL Premiere games for this season:

Thursday October 7 and Friday October 8:

Minnesota Wild vs Carolina Hurricanes (Helsinki, Finland)

Friday October 8 and Saturday October 9:

San Jose Sharks vs Columbus Blue Jackets (Stockholm, Sweden)

Saturday October 9 and Sunday October 10:

Boston Bruins vs Phoenix Coyotes (Prague, Czech Republic)